Christmas 2007. Mo Diame is playing in front of a few thousand people in the Spanish third division in Linares, a city located in the north of Andalusia.

For a midfielder groomed for greatness at the famous Clairefontaine Academy – where he graduated in the same class as Hatem Ben Arfa, Blaise Matuidi and Abou Diaby – the Estadio de Linarejoso must have felt like distinctly modest surroundings.

The cold was biting by December, but so too were the club’s problems. They were winning on the pitch, but off it they couldn’t afford to pay their players. For months at a time, Diame’s wages went unpaid.

He had left his family back home in Créteil, a small suburb in Paris, hopeful that he would be able to support them. His father – tragically – had passed away when he was just 13. Diame remembers him telling him just before he died to make sure that he always worked hard and made the most of any opportunity he had: a legend that he still lives by today.

When you have lived through that, the pressure of playing for promotion to the Premier League must feel like nothing.

Newcastle United player Mo Diame talks at the club's training ground (Image: The Chronicle)

“I always wanted to get to the top,” he says, eyes blinking in the Tyneside winter sun at Newcastle’s training ground.

“I was determined, so the confidence was always there but, yes, it’s true. It wasn’t easy when I was at Linares. We played a good season because we went to the play-offs that year – although we didn’t get promoted. But there was more going on.

“It was difficult. There were problems with money. The club didn’t pay us for a while. We protested to the board, we were telling them at the time ‘You must pay us’. At the end of the season I signed for Rayo Vallecano so things went better from there, but it was tough.

“It was very difficult for me. I had just arrived in the country. I wasn’t used to living by myself like I was, without my family.

“It was even harder because my family were relying on me. My father passed away when I was just 13, so I was supporting my family. It was just my mother, brother and sister – I was the one looking after them, so not being paid was very hard.

“I felt pressure. Thank God it was only one season. Every day I thank God that now I am in a different situation and my family are safe and in a good position.”

For Diame, the road that led him to Spain was motivated by a determination to make the most of a second chance that he feared might not come.

Diame was primed for the top after Clairefontaine. Lens signed him on a long contract, but a routine scan revealed a cardiac problem which saw him benched for a whole season – and eventually released by the French club.

“Lens was my first professional contract,” he remembers.

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“It was a big achievement for me. I was playing football to become professional. I started pre-season and they told me to go and do this medical stuff. After the tests I was told not to go back to them in pre-season. I had a season where I didn’t play because I was waiting for the results for these tests.

“They told me it was something from birth and I was shocked. I never felt anything. Not even a fast heartbeat or anything like this. I felt healthy and nothing bad. I wasn’t interested. I decided to continue playing and to play my game.

“I have never looked back from that. I have never been worried about it.”

Newcastle United player Mo Diame talks at the club's training ground (Image: The Chronicle)

The problem has never resurfaced but when he signed for Newcastle, he was sent to the RVI for tests – where he met a United supporter in the Hospital.

That picture – of a smiling Diame in the Hospital waiting room – made its way onto Twitter and was one of the most unusual ways for a transfer story to break. Diame chuckles at the memory: “I remember that well. I remember being in the hospital and I saw this woman, who was a very nice person, sat next to me. She asked for a photo and I said ‘Of course!’

“Ten minutes later it was all over Twitter and everyone was talking about it! It was a great moment and luckily nothing bad happened because of it, so it was OK.

“It was nice and a good introduction to Newcastle. Everyone wants to speak to you and it’s good.”

Diame cuts a relaxed figure. He had been underwhelming in his first few months, more of a peripheral figure than he’d have liked to be.

But three important goals in recent games – including the winner at Burton – have illustrated just why United manager Rafa Benitez went ‘all in’ to sign him from Hull.

“You’re always happy when you’re scoring goals and winning games. I’m the first one to know when I’m not playing well.

“I don’t need people or the manager telling me I’m not doing well. I know that in football you have to keep working and when you work, things come from it. I just wanted to keep working and now I feel a little bit better.

“I’m happy with this - I need to keep working though.”

It is the work-rate which saw Diame through his hardest moments in Spain. It should be no surprise that he’s at it again now. “What’s changed? It’s the work,” he says.

“I just push and push myself. I’m working harder to do better and do the things the manager asks of me. I’m quite happy that’s the case,” he said.